Q. When did you know you wanted to be a writer and what inspired you? 
A. I wasn't one of those children who know they want to be writers. My passion was nature and animals. I loved toads and collected toad tadpoles every spring and tried to raise them. I had frogs, snakes, lizards, and tropical fish as pets where I was a kid. I read only nonfiction and stories with dogs and horses in them when I was young. But I did do some writing for fun--my brother and I put out a "newspaper" called "The Hinshaw News," and I had my own column, "Lots of Jots by Dots," when I was ten. I decided to become a writer when my children were young; I wanted to do something with my training in biology and also be home with my kids, and writing nature books for children turned out to be a natural for me. 
     
Q. How do you get ideas for stories? 
A. Getting ideas isn't the problem--finding time to write about all the things I want to write about is impossible! For my nonfiction, I write about animals and environments I love and about species that live nearby so I can spend time observing them, like bald eagles, bison, and wolves. I teach in Yellowstone National Park every summer and get up early in the morning to look for the wolves; I've seen them every year since they were reintroduced--what a thrill! I also have ideas for fiction; one is published--"Return of the Wolf," a novel about a female wolf who repopulates an area where there are no other wolves. I am working on two picture books and have several ideas for historical fiction; I find that certain periods and places in human history just grab me and get my imagination going. 
   
Q. How long does it take you to complete a book? 
A. That's hard to say--my books vary so much in age level, length, and complexity. But I have been averaging four books a year over the span of my career. I'm trying to slow down now to make more time for the fiction
    
Q. Did you have any role models as a child and who were they? 
A. I had no role models for writing, but my dad, who received both a PhD. in zoology and an M.D., encouraged my interests in nature. My eight grade teacher, Joyce Wilson, did her best to challenge me in my reading habits and get me more interested in writing. 
    
Q. Do you have any advice for kids who want to write or illustrate?
A. The two best things anyone who wants to write can do to further that goal are to read and to write! That goes for anyone, child or adult. Keep a daily journal and include not just facts about your days but also feelings, ideas, and insights. Lots of times you need to write one to three pages or so before you are warmed up enough to feel you are writing freely, so don't be impatient. 
    
Q. Do you have any pets or a favorite animal? 
A. This is a perfect question for me because I am such an animal lover! My favorite wild animal, if I had to name one, would be the wolf. Not surprisingly, my favorite domesticated animal is the dog. I have two dogs, Elsa (named after the lion in Born Free) and Ninja. Their pictures are both on my website with me. I also love horses, but I have never had one of my own and I haven't ridden for many years, but I've written lots of books about horses. 
     
Q. What are your hobbies?
A. I love to garden and to hike. I used to play racquetball and one day hope to get back to it. I have a new canoe I'm looking forward to using, and I enjoy painting in watercolor.
 
Click here to visit Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's website

Below is a list of Dorothy Hinshaw Patent books:

African Elephants : Giants of the Land
Alex and Friends : Animal Talk, Animal Thinking (Discovery)
The American Alligator
Apple Trees
The Bald Eagle Returns
Bold and Bright Black-And-White Animals
Cattle (Understanding Animals)
Deer and Elk
Dogs : The Wolf Within (Understanding Animals)
Eagles of America
Fire: Friend or Foe
Flashy, Fantastic Rain Forest Frogs
Gray Wolf, Red Wolf
Great Ice Bear : The Polar Bear and the Eskimo
Homesteading : Settling America's Heartland
Horses
In Search of the Maiassurs
A Is for Apple : More Than 200 Recipes for Eating, Munching, and Cooking With America's Favorite Fruit
Looking at Bears
Looking at Penguins
Lost City of Pompeii
Mystery of the Lascaux Cave
Ospreys
Pigeons
Places of Refuge : Our National Wildlife Refuge System
Polar Bears
Prairie Dogs
Prairie Primer A to Z
Prairies
Return of the Wolf
Secrets of the Ice Man
Shaping the Earth
Treasures of the Spanish Main
West by Covered Wagon : Retracing the Pioneer Trails
Where the Bald Eagles Gather
Where the Wild Horses Roam
Wild Turkeys (Early Bird Nature Books)
Yellowstone Fires : Flames and Rebirth

All of these books can be purchased at amazon.com